The Secret Admirer
by DragonWyrd
Summary: An intro story between my warden Niarah Surana and our favorite templar Cullen.


_**The Secret Admirer**_

Her eyes were becoming blurry from reading and re-reading the same sentence in the tome laid out before her. Raising her gaze for a moment, to hopefully refocus her attention, she was drawn to the fact that the shadows throughout the room were much darker now, and that where there had been sunlight shining through the window, it was now filled with the light of a crescent moon, and a spattering of stars surrounding it. Niarah sighed and lay her head in her hands, feeling tears pricking at the back of her eyelids.

"Everyone's forgotten my birthday, even Jowan," she whispers to herself, her shoulders slumping at that depressing thought. Standing a bit stiffly, her muscles protesting after being in the same position for so long, she gathered the tomes she had been studying and carefully replaced them on the shelves within the library. Shuffling quietly back to the apprentices' dorm, she hugs herself tightly and stares down at the floor.

"I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. It's not as if I made a huge deal out of it, but turning eighteen should be something special, I would think," she murmurs to the empty hallway. Upon reaching the door to the room, she tiptoes on slippered feet, in case someone decided to turn in early. Approaching her bed, she notices a piece of parchment and a box, and her brows furrow in thought after, looking around, it was noticeable that the dorm was completely empty.

"Huh," her voice echoes mutedly in the room as she bends over to first pick up the piece of parchment on the blanket.

_Meet me in the kitchen when you're finished studying. I would have said something earlier but you were staring at that book so intently it seemed your life was depending on it._

_ Jowan_

Feeling her hopes rising slightly at that note, her attention then turns to the small box nestled onto her pillow. It was a plain white box, a shimmering midnight silvery blue ribbon tied clumsily around it and ending in a rather sad looking bow at the top adorning it. Even though curiosity was gnawing at her, she was reluctant to untie the bow, as it looked as though it had been done with care, and the ribbon was her favorite color. Giving into temptation she gently untied the bow, and before she opened the box, she used the ribbon to tie her hair back into a loose ponytail, highlighting her elven ears and letting her reddish black curls fall into a more condensed waterfall down to the small of her back. Grinning ear to ear she then attacks the box, but stops as she stares at what's nestled inside it.

"_I hope she likes it, I really __**really**__ hopes she likes it,"_ a nervous Cullen thinks as he stands just inside the doorway, half hidden in shadow, his eyes never leaving her slender form. As he sees her tie the ribbon in her hair, some of the tension leaks from his body, marveling at how the ribbon looks as it hugs the soft strands of her hair.

Niarah's fingers reach unsteadily for the gift nestled so gently within the silken interior of the box and she pulls out a silver chain, from which a delicate silver filigreed rose hangs. Touching her cheek upon which a rose tattoo was etched into her skin, she marvels at how the pendant looks almost identical. Glancing back into the box, she notices a corner of a piece of parchment hidden within the silk cloth and she pulls it out, her eyes scanning the words upon it.

_Niarah,_

_May your eighteenth birthday be a special one. I thought of you when I saw this, and hope it makes you smile. Did you know you get a little dimple in the crease of your right cheek when you smile? I can't stop watching you, hoping that something will be said that will allow that dimple to peek out._

_Forever yours and eternally your secret admirer_

Her hands tremble more now and she darts a glance around the room again, narrowly missing Cullen as he ducks quickly behind the doorframe. Turning back to the necklace in her hand, her heart beating rapidly in her chest and her hands trembling more now, she stares at the necklace, glancing back to the note from time to time.

"_I wonder who likes me enough to give me something so beautiful?"_ she asks herself as she keeps trying to undo the clasp without success. "_I know it can't be Jowan. He'd never come up with something like this, besides we're like siblings and he's always asking me how to get this or that girl's attention. I really wish I knew so I could at least thank them."_

Her hands still too unsteady, her fingers feeling as if they've swollen up to ten times their normal size, she keeps failing on working the clasp until it slips from her grasp to land on the floor.

"Oh blast it!" she exclaims, sighing to herself as she reaches down to pick the necklace up off the floor.

Hearing her exclamation, Cullen peers around the door to see her struggling with the chain. Clearing his throat to announce his presence, he approaches Niarah slowly, trying to mask his emotions.

"H-Hello Niarah. Is something wrong? Something I could assist with?" he turns his golden hazel eyes on her as she slowly tilts her face up in his direction, a lock of hair falling out of the ribbon to slide along her tattooed cheek. Fighting the urge to reach out and tuck it behind her ear, he watches her expectantly.

"Oh if you wouldn't mind, Cullen? Someone gave me this lovely necklace for my birthday and I just can't seem to put the darn thing on. My fingers won't cooperate with me and it's becoming a tad bothersome. I finally undid the clasp but I can't get it to fasten back together," she huffs, looking up at him with piercing yet vibrant blue eyes.

"_They glow like sapphires, her eyes,_" he thinks, staring into their blue depths as if he were a drowning man, happily caught in their unknowing siren's call.

"Cullen?" she asks, her voice trembling lightly as a shivery feeling pools deep in her belly at the intensity within his eyes as he watches her.

"_How did I not notice how beautiful his eyes were, till now? Or how handsome he is?" _she wonders, waiting for him to respond.

"Oh, I ahhh, sorry. Sure, if you want me to, I can try," his cheeks turn a light pink as he takes the necklace and gingerly takes a seat on the mattress behind her. Draping the necklace around her neck, he closes his eyes momentarily, her hair brushing his hand lightly as she lifts it for him to fasten the chain. Fumbling himself for a moment, he finally succeeds, and almost trips over himself as he stands and backs away a few steps.

Niarah fingers the chain around her neck before tucking it beneath her robe, then turns to give Cullen a joyful smile.

"Why did you hide it?" He asks, surprised he didn't stumble over his words as that dimple winked at him and the itch to run his thumb over it almost overpowered him.

"I don't know who gave it to me, but I'm sure it's someone special and I want to keep it close to my heart," her smile turns soft as she rubs the spot where the pendant lay, her eyes closing for a moment before reopening to look at him.

"Thanks for helping me, Cullen," she skips over to him, leaning up to plant a quick kiss on his cheek, "I really appreciate it. But now I must be going. It seems as if I'm being requested in the kitchen this eve."

With another smile and a wave, she dashes out of the room, her beribboned hair flying out behind her and more strands escaping their loose ribboned embrace, as she runs on light feet down the hallway. As his duties were done for the day, Cullen makes his way through the myriad of hallways and stairs to his room and sinks down onto his own bed, his fingers tracing the cheek she had kissed.

"_Holy Maker, she liked it,_" he thinks in a daze, "_and she kissed me!_"

~oOo~

Flying through the hallways toward the kitchen, her heart feeling lighter than air, she skids to a stop just inside to see Jowan, Anders, and quite a few other friends gathered around a humongous birthday cake, another table off to the side filled with presents.

"SURPRISE!" they all yell and she laughs, diving into her friends and giving them each a hug.

"Thought we forgot, didn't you luv," Anders grins at her a bit cheekily. "I don't have a present on the table for you, but I've got one for you later if you're willing to take me up on it."

Rolling her eyes, she smacks him goodnaturedly upside his head, smirking at his faked "Ow, you hurt my feelings!" retort, before getting down to the business of celebrating.

All in all it turned out to be the perfect birthday.


End file.
